The life of a hermit doesn't lend itself to a career in music. However, instrumental hip-hop duo Hermitude are challenging people's preconceptions about a life of solitude.

"We're hermits to a certain degree," says Luke Dubs. "I've got my hermit beard going at the moment. I'm looking the part but I still kind of talk to people, so I guess I'm breaking the first rule of the hermit union there."

The highly organised Hermitude also possess their own technology.

"Hermit technology is kind of like a transportation device we invented that allows us to beam back and forth from the studio so we don't have to drive," says Dubs. "I can't go into details."

This highly convenient mode of transport has allowed Dubs and musical partner Elgusto to travel with relative ease between their studio in the Blue Mountains and Sydney, for gigs such as tonight's Supermercado beats event at the Coogee Bay Hotel.

The Blue Mountains natives have been working together musically in a variety of incarnations for 11 years. They're based in Sydney but keep their studio in the mountains, a reality neatly summed up in the title of last year's album, Alleys to Valleys.

There must be something about the mountains that inspires creativity - Sydney musicians, most notably Paulmac, regularly retreat to the area.

"I find it quite a creative place," says Dubs. "We've got a nice little position where the studio is, right on the edge of the Valley of the Waters. It's a lot nicer than being in a studio in the city with no windows and just brick walls. It brings about a nice vibe.

"We've had a few people comment on the way our music sounds like the mountains, if that makes any sense."

Hermitude don't really perform the "blues", but they make electronic-based music that has an organic feel. Their live performances revolve around a rig of keyboards and turntables. A simple laptop performance was not an option for Hermitude.

"There was just no way we were going to go up there and stand in front of a computer - that shit just makes me cringe," says Dubs.

"I'd feel like I'd be standing onstage with nothing to do. We're trying to make it live and look interesting.

"I'd also be paranoid the shit's going to crash and the whole set's going to go into disarray and we'd get booed off stage."

Fortunately, Hermitude still know how to rock the futuristic beats. Recent sets featured an electro track. Are they harking back to the sound of the '80s?

"We're certainly not one to revive the '80s," says Dubs. "It's probably got something to do with all the crap that was around then."

It's popular with the ladies, though.

"Well, that's it, maybe I'm going up the wrong alley," says Dubs. "I've said all this shit, and next you'll see this Hermitude '80s revival album and I'll have three girls hanging off my arm 24 hours a day."